Title
Approval of AGR21-31 General Services Agreement with GreatBlue Research for the DPU Customer Satisfaction Survey Program for a period of seven (7) years.
Recommended Action
I move that the Board of Public Utilities approve Agreement No. AGR21-31 between the Incorporated County of Los Alamos and GreatBlue Research in a total amount not to exceed $329,000 plus applicable NMGRT for a period of seven years and forward to County Council for final approval.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends approving Agreement No. AGR21-31 between the Incorporated County of Los Alamos and the GreatBlue Research as presented and forward to council for final approval.
Body
The overall scope of this Agreement is modeled after the JD Powers Customer Satisfaction Program. The Contractor will develop and implement a customer satisfaction survey program that measures the satisfaction, engagement and loyalty of the Department of Public Utilities’ customers using survey instruments that will include benchmark comparisons to appropriate peer utility organizations and provide actionable recommendations to improve the department’s overall services to its customers. Two survey instruments will be developed:
1) General Survey: Will measure the Voice of the Customer and Customer Engagement. It will be conducted annually over a period of seven years and will assess customers’ satisfaction for the department’s quality and reliability of utility services; price; bill and payment services; corporate/organizational citizenship; and communication.
2) Transactional Survey: Will measure customers’ satisfaction with their transactional experiences with department employees (field employee, customer care center representative, etc.) and assess the employee’s job knowledge, courtesy, resolution of an issue and overall service provided. This survey instrument will capture the customer experience within 48 hours of the transaction and generate reports to the department quarterly (four times per year) for a period of seven years.
The Agreement includes the option for the Department to request the contractor to conduct a focus group for (1) a specific customer segment that may be underrepresented in survey results or (2) a topic such as a single policy, procedure, goal or project.
Reports and presentations from the contractor to the department and/or stakeholders will present the department’s results, compare results to peer utility organizations, provide insights and recommendations on how the department can improve results and its relationship with customers.
Background: The department has been conducting customer satisfaction surveys every two years since 2005 using a 4-point scale (1 = poor and 4 = excellent) and reporting the average response with a goal to achieve a customer satisfaction score of 3.5. While our results are good, averaging above 3.0, results have been relatively flat over the years. Further, these surveys neither show how the Department’s results compare with other peer utility organizations nor is the department capturing real-time customers’ transactional experiences. As the Department has been pursuing quality performance excellence as part of the Malcolm Baldrige and the Quality New Mexico (QNM) awards programs, our satisfaction surveys are an area that has been identified repeatedly as an opportunity for improvement. Recommendations from QNM examiners have been for the department to use a survey instrument that can provide a deeper understanding of customers’ sentiments and put the results in a larger context.
The department looked at pursuing the JD Powers customer satisfaction program for utilities. A representative from J.D. Powers indicated that the baseline price is $41,500 per year, the program is subscription-based, and JD Powers does not respond to RFPs. Lastly, because our customer base is small, the Department would never be eligible to win a JD Power’s award. Based on this information, the Department issued an RFP with a similar JD Powers’ scope. GreatBlue responded to the RFP with a baseline price that is less than JD Powers (starting at $39,500 and dropping to $36,500 by year seven); they bring 40 years’ experience in utility specific market research; and developed with the American Public Power Association a nation-wide Public Power Data Source of public power utilities’ customers responses since 2014. Additionally, should focus group work be requested and on site work be requested, the contract allows for $7,500 of focus group work and $1,500 of travel expenses per year.
Alternatives
Continue with the customer satisfaction survey method that the Department has been using since 2005 or discontinue surveying customers.
Fiscal and Staff Impact
The fiscal impact of this contract without GRT is an amount not to exceed as follows: Year 1 = $48,500; Year 2 = $48,000; Year 3 = $47,500; Year 4 = $47,000; Year 5 $46,500; Year 6 = $46,000; Year 7 = $45,500. The public relations manager for the Department will work closely with the Contractor to ensure a successful roll out of the customer satisfaction surveys, pulling necessary customer contact data, coordinating with appropriate staff on questions and focus areas, sharing survey results and incorporating, as appropriate, results and Contractor recommendations in the department’s strategic planning process to initiate improvements.
Attachments
A - AGR21-31 GreatBlue Research Agreement